This is a pretty underrated brewery, in my opinion. Thanks to a generous alcstradamus. Sadly, I must report that this beer was awful.

Pours a murky brownish red. Two or three inches or rapidly vanishing tan foam.

Smells ... like fake artificial cherry sweetener and cough syrup. Taste is shockingly cloying. So, so, so sweet. None of the complexities that cherries can bring, at all. What other flavors there are (malt, basically) just add a "sugar"iness to it.

Poured into an imperial pint glass, formed a 1/2" tan head over the clear brownish burgundy brew. Head is quickly gone, with average to good lacing. Aroma is sour cherries and hearty dark malts, smells like a cherry stout. Flavor is probably the most sweet beer I've ever had upfront. Blech. Have trouble getting anything else out of it but that. Mouthfeel is somewhat lacking in carbonation, and drinkability is in the cellar due to my not being able to get past the flavor. Wow, nasty.

12 ounce bottle. The New Glarus Cherry Stout pours out a dark brown color with ruby tints. The head is small and is gone after a minute or so. The aroma is pungent, rotten cherries. The flavor is dominated by the slightly sour, slightly sweet cherries. There's also an artifical sweetener flavor that I find foul. Very little, if any, stout flavor. I like the Belgian Red. Hell, I even liked the Sour Brown. This beer, however, is almost undrinkable. Get rid of the artificial sweetener flavor, make the cherry flavor fresher, and add some more stout to this beer. Maybe then I will try it again.

Whoa..um, appearance is a bit off. A translucent brown with some decent carbonation. Cherry Brown? Does not look like it's going to be thick or rich. Aroma of cherry, sweet, cloying cherry, not much else.
Much like the other of NG's fruit beers that I've attempted, sweet, a bit cloying. Are all of Wisconsin's cherries sweet? Maybe I've asked this question before. Not at all impressed by this beer. I was expecting some lush dark beverage infused with roast and chocolate to play off of the cherry. In that combination, I feel you can get away with a little sweet cherry if you have the bitter dark end to balance. Another disappointment from these guys.

Pours a deep dark ruby red that is so dark it's almost black with golden ruby edges when held to a light source and a 1.5 finger light beige head. Very good retention, only slowly fading into a lasting cap that leaves streaks of lacing on it's way down.

The aroma is bursting with an intense syrupy cherry character. It smells a lot like a luden's cough drop and children's cold medicine. Whatever oak and malt notes are there are completely overpowering by the overly cloying sweet cherry presence. I'm sure they used real cherries but it smells incredibly artificial.

Medium bodied with a cloyingly sweet overpowering cherry flavor. Again it is very syrupy and artificial tasting even if the cherries are real. There are some chocolate/toasted malt notes underneath but this beer is too one dimensional with a boat load of sickening cherry sweetness.

This beer does not live up to its name as a stout - the only reason I bought it.

I knew I was in trouble when I poured it and it looked more like a dark ale then a stout. It did carry a nice head though.

The smell was of tart cherries, which was pleasant.

The taste was best summed up by my wife (who thought the exact thing as me) tastes like watered down cough syrup. I might have been easier on it had it actually been called a fruit ale. The tartness that should have been similar to tart cherries, was sour and left an aftertaste again similar to cough syrup.

Mouthfeel was smooth & carbonation was average.

I really had high expectations for this brew but unfortunately I will be punishing my friends with the rest of this.

Taste is just terrible. I never drain poor beers. This was drain poured. I tried to see how it would develop as it warmed a bit, but this is just a terrible tasting beer. Tastes like someone took a mediocre stout and dumped some robitussin in it, then added in a bit of tart cherries.

Mouthfeel - get it out of my mouth!

Overall glad I gave it a try, but will not ever drink this again, even if it is free. Still, major props to the trader who included this as an extra - love trying new beers.

This 7th installment of the Unplugged Series pours a black color with a crimson hue. A small tan head rests atop the liquid. No real lacing.

Aroma is strong on the cherries with a bit of an oak barrel note with alcohol esters. Deeper down there's the slightest amount of sweet chocolate. There is also a saltyness I'm smelling which throws everything off. Complex yet not enjoyable smell here.

Taste is also lacking what I was hoping for. So many cherries in here it's sickening. Not really any stout characteristics to match. Tastes like Robitussin with a shot of Worchestire sauce.

I set the beer down and open a Bell's Amber and come back in 30 minutes. As the beer warms there's a roasted character that helps and the tartness of the cherries now match the sweetness. But still, this isn't too good. The finish is high on alcoholic esters even though I don't think this beer is too high in alcohol in general.

Body is a bit light and carbonation is rather low. That doesn't help this beer at all. In the end I finish off the bottle hoping to never see this train wreck again. Highly disapointed.

Look is a dark cherry(hehe) red, clear, with a small sudsy head. Smell is pure cherry, maybe some wheat off in the background. The taste isn't atrocious, but definitely not my style. Overwhelming cherry flavor, I know it's not artificial, but it tastes like it. Almost Vick's Cough Syrup-y.

Like other reviewers, I wonder why they decided to call this a stout. Maybe it's that they swapped the massive malts in favor of massive cherries. Still, a misleading title, and a near drainpour for me.

T: First impression is of cherry coke, without the coke. Overly carbonated sweetness hits the tongue immediately. Strong sweet cherry flavors gradually give way to cherry tarteness. Some earthy notes show up later along with faint chocolate. Finishes with an odd bitterness and medicinal taste. This is kind of a mess.

M: Overly carbonated, medium mouth feel and a little oily.

D: Not impressed. This is kind of a mess, trying for chocolate covered cherries in one moment, a sour cherry pie the next. Not enjoyable to drink. Wouldn't try again. Not even sure I'll finish this bottle, especially that I now know the burps aren't pleasant either...

Whoa! Another beer where I was expecting something quite different. Poured a decent tan head and some lace. Head fades to a thin cover within a minute or so. Color is a very dark mahoganey with red highlights. Arome is BAM cherry pie! Along with some malt. Have very little idea where the "stout" part comes in. Flavor's about the same as aroma, with a little more of the sour cherry coming thru along with a smidgen of malt. No roasty, toasty, stout qualities that I can find. It is dark. Body is ok and so is carbonation. Finish is like flavor. Should be good to cook with. Kind of a girly beer.

Taste is a surprisingly strong sour cherry flavor up front, with a tart finish. There is subdued minerally mustiness in the aftertaste.

Mouthfeel is light to medium bodied.

Where's the stout? The sourness is so overwhelming as to eclipse anything else. This brew is very reminiscent of the New Glarus sour brown. If you have the aquired taste of sour beers give this one a try. Otherwise don't waste the cash.

Received in a recent trade with wedgie9 and cracked open during poker night at Sami's. Poured a moderately dark brown and produced a very light brown, nearly non-existent, head that was basically just a ring around the inside of my glass. Ruby brown highlights are seen when held up to the light. This looks remarkably similar to cola. You could probably tell me that I was looking at a root beer (when held up to the light) and I would believe you. Not surprisingly, there is very little lacing left on the glass.

Damn! The aroma of this thing is in-your-face sweet cherry. Wow. Chocolate cherry with a bit of alcohol - approaches the unpleasant smell of cough syrup. Frankly, I'm having a bit of trouble getting past this part of the nose - perhaps a bit of syrupy soda in there as well. I applaud what NG has got going on in here...but it is a bit too much for me.

Very sweet cherry syrup tasting drink. It really tastes more like a cherry juice drink than it does a stout. Given how thin and light this beer is, I'm having trouble with the category anyway. There is a bit of roasty bitterness on the back end, but that is one of the few parts that resembles stout. About halfway through the beer, I realized how surprisingly similar this is to the Belgian Red; and both are a bit too sweet for my liking. I know that several claim there to be a decent "tart" associated with the cherry stout, but I'm really not getting any of it...just sweet.

I really do enjoy a lot of beers from New Glarus. However, the unplugged Cherry Stout was disappointing. Again, it doesn't help that I'm not partial to sweet beers. Regardless, this one certainly could have been helped by having some tart in there to help balance the malty sweetness (they do a great job of this with their Unplugged Cranbic). I'll surely try it again, and adjust my rankings as appropriate, but for the time being this one is going to remain pretty low for me.

Poured from a bottle into a pint glass. Received this as an extra in a recent trade, and was really excited to try it as I've enjoyed some of my previous New Glarus offerings. The poured with ZERO head. Usually I pour stouts slowly down the side of a tilted glass so I don't have an excessive head. However, when it started off without any semblance of one, I poured it largely into an upright glass. No head. This is not opaque. Light DOES permeate through the body of this beer. The nose is straight up cherry. Almost too much cherry. The taste was the start of the real let down. This is sooo tart, without anything else typical of a stout being present. I just don't get this beer. The mouthfeel is borderline terrible. It's very thin, unlike what I've come to expect and enjoy in a stout. I could have finished this beer, but really had no desire to whatsoever.

Surprisingly dark brown with ruby accents. The tight, oily head didn't leave much residual lacing, as any that was left behind was soon streaking down the side of the glass. Ultrasweet cherry flavors right off the bat, with an acrid sourness that offsets it pretty well...it's not messing around. Not sure what the %ABV of this one is, but you can definitely taste the alcohol with each sip, and soon ensues a slight warming effect on the belly.
After having the Belgian Red & Raspberry Tart, the cherry flavors seem more artificial, and even a bit cloying at times, but it's somewhat expected considering the bold use of cherries by the boys at New Glarus. This could also be due to the chocolate & malt flavors that are strewn in as well, which distract from the true cherry flavor.

While fairly unique and certainly not lacking any punch in the flavor department, the combination of tastes didn't do anything for me. It's hard to excel with fruit-based beers..and while New Glarus has a number of good ones, this one misses the mark for me.

#BOTG 55! Poured from bottle into Brooklyn tulip. Pours a dark dark blood red/brown color, almost no head at all. Visible small bubbles come up from the bottom of the glass. Smell- like I am sticking my nose into the cherry tank of a soda fountain machine. Chemically, syrupy, artificial smelling cherries. Maybe a little bit of port wine smell mingled with maybe some chocolate. Not a great aroma. Taste- really sharp carbonation, this pretty much tastes like a cherry Dr. Pepper having sex with a chocolate truffle cheap candy you would get in a shitty box of valentines day candy. The mouthfeel is thin, and really there is nothing "stout" about this beer at all. Mediocre, a disappointment from a brewery I wanted to get more exposure to that I know is capable of beers way better than this. This will go down the drain in favor of something different tonight.

Browned ruby cola color with a soft, loosely set dark ivory top of pinky high stature. Minimal lacing in a couple squiggly strings and dots.

Aroma is dark cherry sweet and vanilla with a soda-esk effervescence. More like a malted beverage type of aroma then beer related.

Same goes for the taste, very soda, malt beverage like, overly sweet and cherry soaked with an unbalanced character that doesn't seem all that stout-like in character. Sweet and tangy with that certain tart cherry bite with no real mellow tones or subtleness. Its broad and rich with cherry. Unfavorably, however; and impartial to the buds. A nice experiment, but nothing to seek out or get worked up about. Unless sour cherry stuff is your thing, then by all means, this beer will suit your tastes just right.

Feel is deeply soured with cherry tartness and no balance within a slick, tart grabbing light/medium body.

I could hardly bring myself to drink it. Far too sweet and cola, malt beverage-like. How sad, I usually like New Glarus offerings, but this was a huge surprising disappointment. Bluck...

T: Sweet pie cherries with vanilla that lead into very light notes of wood and vinegar. A little chocolate mousse presents itself in finish.

M: Light body and fizzy carbonation. Drinks like a two-liter of pop that is just showing signs of going flat.

O: Too sweet, too light and too simple. I'm coming to the conclusion that New Glarus fruit ales are simply different points on the same spectrum. And it all tastes like delicious pop. Not delicious beer.

12 fl oz brown glass bottle with foiled over branded pressure cap served into a conical Samuel Smith's pint glass in me gaff in low altitude Los Feliz, Los Angeles, California. Reviewed live. Thanks to Duff27 for the bottle. Expectations are high given the brewery and style, though the current ratings seem rather low. Aged in oak barrels according to the label. Uses 8 different maled barleys. Brewed with cherries. Label art is nothing to write home about.

Served straight from the fridge and allowed to warm over the course of consumption. Side-poured with standard vigor as no carbonation issues are anticipated.

A: Pours an audibly fizzing head of beige colour, poor thickness, and bad (~10 second) retention. No lacing whatsoever. Not horribly impressed with the head, especially at a paltry 6.50%. Body colour is a refined understated dark amber. Semitransparent and semitranslucent. No yeast particles are visible. No bubble show. Not at all what I expected for a Cherry Stout, but I suppose New Glarus isn't known for churning out predictable beers. Still, this one doesn't look all that great. I'm excited to try it regardless.

Sm: Ugh. Distinct cherry cough syrup; it's uncanny. I've joked about cough syrup aromas in previous reviews, but this really really evokes it. In any case, the cherry seems chemical and artificial, not genuine or fruit-like. The aroma is really turning me off to it. Ugh. Maybe there's candi sugar when I really look for it? A pretty strong, pungent aroma. I don't detect any yeast or alcohol.

T: Better than the aroma, to be sure. Clean malts form the body, with a pleasant lightly sour cherry kick on the climax. Sugary and candy-like. Good sweetness is balanced well by light caramel. The oak is nowhere to be found. Lightly tart. Enjoyable. It's decently balanced, if a bit too sweet. Not horribly complex or subtle, but it gets the job done. I do like it, but this is not the level of quality I've come to expect from New Glarus. I do like the cherry.

Mf: Smooth, wet, a bit too thick, and slightly undercarbonated. Full-bodied. Too heavy on the palate. A bit viscous, but I wouldn't call it syrupy. Suits the flavour profile okay.

Dr: The appearance and aroma really had me concerned, but it wasn't a train-wreck after all. Still, I do expect more from New Glarus and this so-called "Cherry Stout" wasn't at all what the name might suggest...that wouldn't be an issue if it was amazing anyway, but it's neither a cherry stout nor a very good beer. I definitely think it's worth trying and I like the experimentation, but this one missed the mark. They need to commit more to the spontaneous fermentation/cherry combination or to the oak aging; neither is well explored here. Glad I got to try this one. Thanks again, Duff27!

T: Wow, tastes like a think cherry cola...and a really sweet one at that. Cherries, cherries, cherries. Not really much of a beer taste at all. Hard to believe this is a stout. The style in BA is a fruit beer, which seems more accurate than a 'Cherry Stout'

M: High carbonation. A thin, but thick and sticky body. Again, hard to believe this is a stout

D: Drinkabily is tough for me with this one. Could't finish one before giving it to someone else to finish so I could have something else.